Certainly, there exists various known packaging systems employed to package a wide range of products. Cardboard containers are commonly employed, mainly due to their overall structure which protects stored products from damage. By way of example, it is known to store a refrigerated dough product in a canister of a fixed volume formed from composite paperboard which is spirally wound into a cylinder so the refrigerated dough product proofs while in the canister. However, packaging products in cardboard is actually, relatively expensive and, at least in connection with products having a small profit margin, can be cost prohibitive.
Although other types of packaging exist, at least a majority of these types of packages are simply not suited for certain products, such as refrigerated dough-based food products which require the control of headspace volume and composition.
Mainly because of cost efficiencies and packaging versatility, vertical and horizontal form, fill and seal packaging systems have become increasingly popular, particularly in the food industry. While vertical form, fill and seal systems have mainly been limited in connection with making sealed bags, such as potato chip and other types of snack bags, horizontal form, fill and seal packaging systems are considered to be much more versatile. By way of example, it is known to employ a horizontal form, fill and seal (HFFS) system to form product cavities or pouches in a lower film, fill the pouches with frozen dough products and seal the products in the pouches with an upper film. Prior to fully sealing the pouches, a vacuum is typically drawn in order to reduce the available headspace of the package. Although evacuating the headspace is appropriate for frozen dough products, employing a vacuum on a refrigerated dough product would destroy nucleation sites for leavener in the dough and, consequently, the overall product. However, if no vacuum is drawn, the headspace will fill with carbon dioxide which will chemically react with deplete the dough of leavening gas and swell the package.
Although the above discussion exemplifies disadvantages with utilizing an HFFS system with refrigerated dough products, numerous other products can be similarly affected. Certainly, the many advantages of utilizing HFFS systems make them enticing to employ. However, these advantages have mostly been outweighed by their disadvantages, at least with respect to particular products. To this end, there is seen to still exist a need for new ways of packaging various types of products, including refrigerated dough products, that can take advantage of the benefits of HFFS systems while avoiding known system drawbacks.